Street view

This was "taken blind" - I left the camera just hanging from my neck, and when the road ahead looked good, I clicked. I like the lower angle, and I love the mottled shadows from the trees.

A beautiful fall day!

Looking way up

It was a great day to get a shot of this towering downtown building. The blue of the glass against the blue of the sky is quite beautiful.

Crowds

This was taken at the annual breast cancer walk, "The Run for the Cure". I managed to get above everyone, but I couldn't effectively compensate for the length of my arms in comparison to the width of the wall. In the end, I think it kind of works that I couldn't be as straight-on to the crowd as I wanted. I love the solid band of green and yellow trees with the art gallery in behind. It gives a bit of scale or perspective for the size of the crowd.

Happy pup

I chose not to crop this one, because I thought it wouldn't make a lot of sense with the context half-gone. I always find it a challenge to capture an animal looking "natural" - when the natural state is anything other than sleeping. Often you have to get them sitting or eating. Here I feel you can really see this little guy's spunk and energy and happiness.

I really wanted to take him home, but I settled for his picture, instead.

Reflections, take 2

Now that I've discovered this method of photography, I'm having a lot of fun with it!

It's almost tricky to sort out what is the reflection and what's "real".

One small patch

A ladder would have been great for capturing this shot. It's just such a random, brilliantly green patch of grass.

Cutting aluminum

An even faster shutter speed might have made this one even better. It was at 1/13, because the garage was sort of dark. The shavings at the sides are relatively in focus, while the bit in the center is just a blur of speed.

Dragonfly

This isn't the most brilliant picture, but I think it's a neat one. It almost looks like this blade of grass has wings! I'm very pleased that it's so beautifully in focus.

The background is a pond, so there was no chance I could go around and get the dragonfly itself.

Filling the Balloon

First, the teams use a large fan to simply put a lot of air in the balloon. Then the burners are turned on and begin to heat the air, at which point the silk starts to rise...

Fox and the Hound... Balloon Style

Part of the hot air balloon competition was a "Fox and the Hound" style of hunt. The "fox" (or balloonmeister) was given a head start. His job was to go hide a target. After a pre-determined amount of time, the teams were allowed to start filling their balloons and set off on the chase!

Not quite every team is shown here, but many of them. 12 balloons total!